NEW BOOKS IN FEBRUARY 8-12

Young, Gifted and Black by Jamia Wilson and Andrea Pippins, published by Wide Eyed Editions

This book is a love letter to the next generation of black change-makers who should all know that their lives matter. Meet figureheads, leaders and pioneers such as Martin Luther King Jr., Nelson Mandela and Rosa Parks, as well as cultural trailblazers and sporting heroes, including Stevie Wonder, Oprah Winfrey and Serena Williams.

JAMIA WILSON is the executive director and publisher of feminist press, she is also a leading voice on feminist and gender justice issues whose words have appeared in many big media platforms.

ANDREA PIPPINS is an illustrator, designer and author, with a passion for creating images that reflect what she wants to see in art, media and pop culture. Her vision is to empower women and girls of colour and people in marginalized communities with visual tools to own and tell their own stories.

Win a copy of Young, Gifted and Black in our amazing bundle competition with Quarto. Find out more here.

The Wild Magic Trilogy: Begone the Raggedy Witches by Celine Kiernan, published by Walker

A middle-grade fantasy adventure perfect for fans of Frances Hardinge and Katherine Rundell. When witches kidnap Mup’s dad, she must journey to their home to save him, and so begins a fantastical adventure of rhyming crows, talking cats and outlawed magic. For Witches Borough is a dangerous place, ruled by a tyrannical queen and her band of raggedy witches.

Claire Martinson still worries about her older sister Sophie, who battled a mysterious illness last year. Things seem to be getting back to normal when they move to Windermere Manor…until the sisters climb a strange ladder in a fireplace and enter the magical land of Arden. There, they find a world in turmoil.

The four guilds of magic no longer trust each other. The beloved unicorns have disappeared, and terrible wraiths roam freely.

Scared, the girls return home. But when Sophie vanishes in the night, it will take all of Claire’s courage to climb back up the ladder, find her sister, and uncover the unicorns’ greatest secret. Blending the timeless feel of The Chronicles of Narnia with Frozen’s powerful themes of identity and sisterhood, The Unicorn Quest will draw you into a magical world you’ll never want to leave.

But when they arrive they discover something they didn’t expect: there’s a new member of the Wong family. Daisy and Hazel think baby Teddy is enough to deal with, but as always the girls are never far from a mystery. Tragedy strikes very close to home, and this time Hazel isn’t just the detective. She’s been framed for murder!

The girls must work together like never before, confronting dangerous gangs, mysterious suspects and sinister private detectives to solve the murder and clear Hazel’s name – before it’s too late . . .

Win a copy and poster of A Spoonful of Murder hereby entering our competition .

Hopeless Heroes series by Stella Tarakson and Nick Roberts, published by Sweet Cherry

Including titles: Here Comes Hercules! and Hera’s Terrible Trap!

When Tim Baker breaks his mum’s favourite vase, it’s the least of his problems. The Greek hero he’s released is in danger of doing far worse. To the flowers, the rug—Oh, no! Not the kitchen!

Hercules is only trying to be helpful but he’s just hopeless. It’s time to send this dim demigod home before Tim becomes ancient history.

Hopeless Heroes is a fun-filled series about Greek mythology, adventure and what it means to be a hero. Great for fans of Who Let The Gods out and the Percy Jackson series. Online activity packs can be found on the Sweet Cherry website here.

Twister’s father has gone missing and as she’s searching for him she stumbles across a witch living in the woods. She is given a magical necklace that holds the souls of living things and can turn the wearer into a wolf, or a rushing river, or a rainstorm. But there’s a dark foe on the hunt for this necklace, a baddie who wears a coat crawling with creatures and who might have something to do with her father’s sudden disappearance…

Search and Find: The Jungle Book, published by Studio Press

Discover the world of Rudyard Kipling with Search and Find The Jungle Book.

The popular adventure is retold in beautifully illustrated search and find scenes where you can find the characters on the busy pages, and follow them through the story. Each page is full of characters to find and details to spot in the busy scenes, such as Mowgli learning the laws of the jungle, the monkeys in the temple, Baloo and Bagheera meeting Kaa. and the defeat of Shere Khan.

Beautiful illustrations are accompanied by abridged text, perfect for sharing with young readers, and introducing them to Rudyard Kipling’s classic story.

Politics for Beginners by Various, illustrated by Kellan Stover, published by Usborne

What is an election? Who gets to be Prime Minister or President? What does immigration mean? This essential introduction to politics for children answers all these questions and many more. Topics debated include capitalism, socialism and nationalism, terrorism, voting systems, free speech and human rights.

Christopher is ‘Proper’: a real boy with a real soul, orphaned in a fire. He works for an engineer, a maker of the eccentric, loyal and totally individual mechanicals who are Christopher’s best friends. But after a devastating accident, a secret is revealed and Christopher’s world is changed for ever … What follows is a remarkable adventure, as Christopher discovers who he really is, and what it means to be human.

Barry Loser: Worst School Trip Ever! by Jim Smith, published by Egmont

The ninth book in this Roald Dahl Funny Prize-winning series. Perfect for fans of Diary of a Wimpy Kid and Tom Gates.

School trips are usually completerly rubbish. But Barry’s class is off to the TV studios, where Future Ratboy (super-keel superhero TV show) is filmed … it’s going to be the best school trip ever! That is until Barry and his friends end up lost and alone in Hokum City. Will they become real-life superheroes* and get out of trouble? Will Barry get to audition for Future Ratboy? Will they get the best seats on the coach?? Find out in the latest Barry adventure!

*Unlikely.

Enter Egmont’s book bundle competition here and you might win a copy of Barry Loser: Worst School Trip Ever!

The Lost Island by Laura Powell and Sarah Gibb, published by Macmillan

After saving the Grand Duchy of Elffinberg from the jaws of a dragon in The Last Duchess, Pattern has been recruited by The Silver Service Agency to help solve supernatural mysteries. Pattern is dispatched undercover to the Island of Cull as a housemaid to the mysterious Lady Hawk, to investigate the disappearance of a young man called Henry.

She quickly discovers that the Isle of Cull has some strange and magical properties, including an unseasonably tropical climate and a party of house guests who seem entirely in thrall to Lady Hawk and her beautiful daughter. Pattern and her new friend Nate are the only ones immune to the spell Lady Hawk has cast, but as the male house guests begin to disappear one by one, they find themselves in a race against time to solve the mystery of the island’s magic.

Join Pattern on another dangerous and spellbinding adventure in The Lost Island, the second Silver-Service Mystery from Laura Powell, illustrated by Sarah Gibb.

Roald Dahl’s James’s Giant Bug Book by Roald Dahl and Quentin Blake, published by Puffin

James and the Giant Peach is one of the top 5 bestselling Roald Dahl books. James Henry Trotter lives with two ghastly hags – Aunt Sponge and Aunt Spiker who are horrid to him. He’s very lonely until one day something peculiar happens. At the end of the garden a peach starts to grow and GROW AND GROW. Inside that peach are seven very unusual creepy-crawlies all waiting to take James on a magical adventure! Now it’s time for you to join James, The Centipede, The Earthworm and the rest of the gang in this bug-packed journey around the world of insects. It’s packed with fascinating facts about creepycrawlies, and fun activities to try at home such as making an ant farm and building your very own bug hotel!

Robinson by Peter Sís, published by Thames & Hudson

Peter Sís blends a true story from his childhood with the fictional adventure of Robinson Crusoe to create a magical picture book filled with heart and imagination that readers will want to return to again and again.

How To Be A Fashion Designer by Lesley Ware and Tiki Papier, published by DK

Draw and colour creations, choose materials, and learn to design through drawing your own fashion. Packed with practical tips and inspiration, How To Be A Fashion Designer helps children enjoy experimenting with new ideas. Bright illustrations mixed with fun photography show kids how to choose gorgeous colours, design dress shapes, customise t-shirts, and add sparkle to their accessories in simple, easy-to-follow design tasks and simple practical projects.

Using inspiration from the natural world, everyday life, and their own imagination, children can design outfits from scratch and learn how to put together the clothes and accessories they already own in fun, stylish ways. How to be a Fashion Designer brings a unique approach to STEAM learning by combining art and design with practical, hands-on making.

Dear Katie by Katie Thistleton, published by Hachette Children’s

Growing up is hard. This book makes it a little bit easier.

Exploring the sometimes challenging issues everyone faces as part of growing up, Katie will answer questions from real kids and teens with real issues. From falling outs with friends to disagreements with family, trouble at school to concerns about mental or physical health, Katie will cover every topic with thoughtful and emotionally sensitive advice that will resonate with readers. With additional guidance from TV and radio doctor Radha Modgil, as well as psychotherapist Sally Angel, this book is full of advice and guidance to help kids through the difficult years of growing up.

The Time-Travelling Cat and the Viking Terror by Julia Jarman, published by Andersen

Topher’s incredible cat Ka is a time-traveller and she’s gone missing. In the midst of danger in London, Topher is taken into the past, to an Anglo-Saxon village under threat from the terrifying Viking Ingwar the Boneless. Can Topher help Ka and the Saxons, and be a hero in his own time too?

Middle School: Escape to Australia by James Patterson, published by Arrow Young

Rafe isn’t exactly considered a winner in Hills Village Middle School to say the least, but everything’s about to change: he’s won a school-wide art competition, and the fabulous prize is getting to jet-set off to Australia for a whirlwind adventure!

But Rafe soon finds that living in the Land Down Under is harder than he could’ve ever imagined; his host-siblings are anything but welcoming, the burning temperatures are torturous, and poisonous critters are ready to sting or eat him at every step. So with the help of some new misfit friends, Rafe sets out to show everyone what he does best: create utter mayhem!

Download the teaching guide here and win a copy of Escape to Australiahere.

The Misadventures of Max Crumbly: Middle School Mayhem by Rachel Renee Russell, published by Simon & Schuster

When we last left our hero, Max Crumbly, he had crash-landed on top of a Mighty Meat Monster pizza after taking a late night tumble through the vents at South Ridge Middle School – and he was completely surrounded by three ruthless criminals!

Will Max be shredded to bits like mozzarella cheese on the hard and crunchy pizza crust of doom?

Can his friend and sidekick, computer whizErin, help get him out of this sticky situation alive?